Thursday, May 3, 2018

Tour Spotlight!! The Crossover, by Heather Horst




Welcome to the blog tour for The Crossover, sponsored by 
YA Bound Book Tours!!

For my stop, I'm featuring an 
excerpt with mini-review!



The Crossover
(Crossover, Book 1)
Heather Horst
Trade Paperback, 370 pages
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
March 1, 2018
Kindle Edition, 370 pages
March 3, 2018
Dystopian Fiction, Science Fiction, 
Young Adult Fiction


https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38901304-the-crossover?ac=1&from_search=true





 It’s been 12 years since Ella has buried her brother Weston, today she buries her Father. Tomorrow she begins her life as an average University student. Unfortunately, much like Ella’s childhood, things do not go as expected. Before the semester can even begin Ella finds herself intertwined with eccentric peers, family ties, and an alternate universe.

Now Ella is thrust into the responsibility of keeping her personal life in order while saving another Earth from their impending doom, and potentially her own.





Note
This mini-review is of the excerpt below, NOT the entire book. I only do this with tour books that I'm REALLY interested in reading!

Well.....this sure was INTENSE!! Although the graphic details make me a bit queasy, Horst certainly succeeded in pulling me right into the scene! I couldn't help thinking of  "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" as I read this, but that doesn't mean it was horrifying in any way. Instead, I did feel sorry for the poor creature. I was left to wonder just what it did to deserve to end its existence like that! 
Then there's the whole thing with the narrator and her brother being alive.....or not. She's not quite sure that the whole thing wasn't a dream. So maybe we're dealing with a parallel universe here. I don't know, and it's driving me CRAZY!! So I need to get this book in order to get into this story, and find out what the HECK is going on! There's a mystery here, plus some very interesting stuff, and yeah, I want to go "where no one has gone before"! Lol.





The creature is pinned to the ground. The seven harpoons are plunged into its body, but I can still see it squirming.
                “Is it dead?” I whimper.
                The boy approaches it, his blade pointed forward. I stay behind, I don’t want to get anywhere near that thing. The creature flails, trying to free itself. The boy stands over top of it and slashes his sword right into the mid-section of the creature. It lets out one final cry and stops moving. The boy pulls out a harpoon; it’s made of the same material as his sword, and he plunges it into the creature's skull.
            “What the hell was that?” I see the same black liquid I saw before leaking from its limp body. I realize it's blood. Black blood is dripping from the creature and onto the ground. A team of people in biohazard suits crash through the door and push toward the creature. Before I can see what they are doing the boy gently places his hands on my shoulders and turns me around.
            “You won’t want to see this.” He says.
            “Tell me what’s going on.” I demand.
            “I wish I could, but I’m really not the right person for that.”
             “Who the hell are you anyways? What is this place? What was-”
            I gasp for air and my eyes begin to grow blurry. There’s the same feeling in my chest and stomach as before, when I left the lecture hall. My legs crumple like tissue paper beneath me. I tumble to the ground. I see the boy crouch down and he’s saying something, but my ears fail to work. I can see that he is trying to hold me up, but I can’t feel him. My ears start to pick up some noise.
            “It’s going to be okay. I’m sorry that you had to do this.” He tries to comfort me, but he sounds like he’s so far away.
            “Was this real?” My breath is faint.
            “Yes.” I look into his sea blue eyes and try to focus. They look so familiar to me.
            “My name is Weston by the way, Weston Brandt.”
               CLAP
             I feel like I am being pushed to the point of breaking. My stomach is being stretched out like elastic, letting go and snapping back into place, over and over. But then it stops.
            I swallow the air like I might never be able to do it again, and my eyes snap open. I paw around my surroundings. The sheets of the nurse's bed soothe my fear. The stupid cat poster is a welcomed sight. I am back.
           Was that a dream? Did I die and come back to life? Weston… my brother was there. That’s impossible. He’s dead.
            I sit up on the bed. My head is pounding. That must have been a dream. I haven’t gone anywhere. I’ve been in this room the whole time… I think. My black dress is still covered in dirt.
            “No, no, no.”  This must just be from today. There’s dirt everywhere but it could’ve gotten on me from walking or taking the bus or something. This doesn’t mean anything. I try wiping off the dirt stuck to my dress and I notice my hand. I turn it over and see the black smudges on my fingers. I smell my hands hoping that it’s not what I think it is.
            It’s spray paint. The same spray paint from the message that was sprawled on the ground from wherever I was. That means that whole thing was real. That means my brother is alive.



Purchase Links
Amazon US/Amazon UK/Amazon CA
Barnes & Noble





Heather is a Young Adult Fiction novelist. 
While she loves writing, there are many other things she likes to do in her free time -- like watching Netflix and reading! Heather lives in Ontario, Canada. 

Goodreads/Twitter
Amazon Author Page



To access the complete tour, please click on this button!

http://yaboundbooktours.blogspot.com/2018/03/blog-tour-sign-up-crossover-by-heather.html





8 comments:

  1. Hey Maria.

    After reading this I also felt sorry for the creatures. There seems to be something really strange going on. I agree that this is very important intriguing and I also want to know more. I am not one hundred percent certain but some of this also sounds a little over the top. It might have involve some parody and humor. When you read this I would love to know what you think of the whole book.

    Hand a great Thursday!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey, Brian!

      SO sorry for the late reply..... I'm falling behind in my replies and comments again....:(

      I'm glad that you, too, felt sorry for the creature. And yes, this does sound a little over the top. Maybe you're right, and there's parody and humor involved here. I certainly intend to find out for sure by reading the whole book!

      Since I'm writing this on Friday, May 11th (YIKES!), I'm going to wish you a GREAT weekend!!

      Thanks for the interesting comment!! <3 :)

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. Hi, Sue!

      Oh, DEFINITELY!! I LOVE all that blue!!

      Thanks for commenting!! <3 :)

      Delete
  3. The cover reminds me a little of some covers that Michelle Diener has for her scifi books. Love it. And the excerpt was great too! :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Steph!

      I looked up this author on Goodreads, and you're right about the cover! Diener's novel, "Dark Deeds", has the very same image shown above, except that there's a woman's head in the lower right-hand corner.

      I've seen similar images on different books before. It seems that some authors just recycle covers. You've probably heard about how some cover art companies have "pre-made covers", right? Well, it looks like that was the case here. Diener just added the woman's head to this image.

      If I were to publish a book I would want a UNIQUE image on the cover! I'd never go with a "pre-made image". Lol. Well, I guess I shouldn't say that, really. Some self-publishing authors are just trying to save money.....

      Yeah, the excerpt was DEFINITELY GREAT! I really want to read this book!!

      Thanks for the interesting comment!! HUGS!!! <3 <3 <3 :) :) :)

      Delete
  4. Wow sounds intense from the sound of the excerpt!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Greg! It SURE does!! Can't wait to read this! Thanks for commenting!! <3 :)

      Delete

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